Well before Avery was born, I swore to myself that I wasn't going to be one of those parents who overestimate their children's achievements. You know the type -- they tell you how little Johnny is such a great singer and then they lock you in a room while he wails Tom Petty's "Freefalling" into a microphone at the top of his tone-deaf lungs.

Pre-fatherhood, I didn't feel like I had to make a big deal out of the little things a child did. It was all a part of growing up and learning, after all, and greater feats would deserve greater praise, just like with an adult. But as a parent, I'm starting to learn that even my daughter's littlest accomplishments are worth lauding, be it holding her head up, wobbling on all fours, or talking.

Logically, I know that babies say things that sound like words before they know what they mean. It's repetition, it's practicing making the syllable sounds they hear us saying in conversation. But it's not talking.

Still, it becomes impossible to deny that Avery has been saying "Dada" for three days when she looks straight into my eyes and grabs my finger while she says it.

Needless to say, now every syllable out of Sed's mouth is "ma."